Lovely World

kitten

Over the winter my kids and I saw the animated movie The Secret of Kells. One of the main characters is a white cat. We were so taken by this cat that we decided we would keep our eyes open for a white kitten up for adoption. The opportunity finally came a couple of weeks ago when we learned of a kitten in foster care that was in need of a home. We brought home the sweet little 8-week-old fellow yesterday. Even though he has been here just 24 hours, I am amazed at how comfortable we all are together, including our two other adult cats. He has won our hearts.

His name? Albus Dumbledore. We are huge Harry Potter fans and knew we wanted to use a name from the books for the kitten. The bright blue eyes, white coloring, and cleverness led us to choose the name. This name also opens up many possibilities for nicknames, which are quite popular in our family. Have you seen the trailer for the Book 7/Deathly Hallows movie? The first part is ready for release in November.

I'm just getting my bearings after returning from a couple of long trips in a short time frame. The trip to the beach was restful, with sunny weather throughout. I am looking forward to checking out posts that all my blog friends have made since I have been away from the computer. I hope all is well.

orange

Summer is orange. So bright and cheery.

Here is an orange collection for you (do you see my little needle-felted ball in there?).

birthday girl

Let's jump for joy! 

Happy Birthday to my dear daughter.

You are 10!

You are growing up, and I'm glad to be witness to your journey.

I love you.

little fox

My Craft Lab group had our third meeting this week. The craft was needle felting. I have little-to-no experience with this, so I was quite excited to give it a try. I made the little orange ball first, to get a feel for how it all worked, and then moved on to the fox. Perhaps that fox was a little ambitious for a first project, but I persevered and was able to pretty much finish by the end of the evening. I still want to put some brown on the feet and more white at the end of the tail. I found needle felting to be fun, but also frustrating. So much poking around with that sharp needle! Yet, it also fed my satisfaction with fussy, detail-oriented work.

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I'm off to the seashore for a few days. I'll be away from the computer during that time. But, I did make a couple of post that I dated for later this week. I hope you all have a nice week, and I'll see you later. I value you, my dear readers. Be well. XO Maribeth

net

A blog friend recently commissioned me to make this crochet-covered stone for a friend of hers. This friend lives down on the gulf coast, and her family are shrimp fisherman. The idea was to make the crochet in a net-like pattern. I thought it was a lovely gesture to send such a gift to a friend who is under great stress and uncertainty right now.

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By the way, you may be interested in joining with Hands Across the Sand on Saturday, June 26th. In the words of the organizers, "this is a movement made of people of all walks of life and crosses political affiliations. This movement is not about politics; it is about protection of our costal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, and fishing industry. Let us share our knowledge, energies, and passion for protecting all of the above from the devastating effects of oil drilling."

The event next weekend will have people heading to their local beaches to hold hands, making a human chain as far as possible along the shore. The image will be powerful - photos will be taken to send to our political leaders and legislators. The event is international. When you click over to their website from my link above, you can find a map of locations near you. I'll be in Wellfleet on Cape Cod that day, and plan to join an event there.

birthday

Happy Birthday to my husband.

Here's to a happy and healthy year. I love you.

summer display

This is the buffet cabinet in our dining area. Lately, it has been looking pretty drab, and I had begun using it to catch piles of  mail, library books, my children's school papers, newspapers, and magazines. This past weekend I decided to reclaim the space and make a beautiful summer display. I am so happy with how it looks now! It cheers me every time I walk by.

On the wall are my lovely Claire Nereim posters "Native California Wildflowers" and "California Flowering Trees." I also have her "Seasonal Fruits of California" poster, which is my favorite.

I've gathered together many of the crochet-covered stones that I've made using white or cream colored thread and placed them on a little pedestal table. I can't believe how many of these I have made since first making one from Margie's pattern in Crochet Today Magazine! You should go check out Margie's stones if you haven't already. So, so beautiful (and I am the proud caretaker of two of her stones myself!).

Finally, I collected a number of bird sculptures from around the house and grouped them together. You can even see my little sewn bird there on the left!

today i saw

I am very happy to be included in the "Today I Saw" postcard swap. Many of you may have followed Jill Wignall's "Today I Saw" project over the past year. She made daily postcards with drawings and words describing daily sightings and mailed them to folks all over the world.

I love the idea of this as a visual diary. My card is heading off to Germany.

xMaribeth

bugs

This has been a stressful week for me and I didn't get to do as much creative work as I would have liked to, nor post much to this blog. I need to make the time, though, because when I sew or crochet I feel more relaxed.

I have a lovely book of Audubon's bugs and butterflies. He knew how to truly capture the essence of living creatures. I really enjoy looking through books of his work.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. THANK YOU SO MUCH for the kind comments on my last post. I hope to post more of my tribute to the sea very soon!

X Maribeth

starfish

Here is a starfish I made in honor of the living creatures and plants in the Gulf of Mexico. I want to continue making more representations of sea and wetland life forms, sending my hopes and prayers for ecological recovery to that area.

The starfish is made of brown linen and gold dupuoni silk (on the back side, which I haven't shown in my photos) with wool and crochet pieces appliqued to the top surface. I also sat down over the last couple of nights and crocheted the starfish pattern to cover a beautifully smooth stone found in the Deerfield River in Charlemont, Massachusetts. The smoothness of the stone reminds me that nature has a very long view of things. How many eons has that stone tossed along in the waters? This oil spill is a blip for nature. The greater impact of our gross negligence is on the long term survival of our own species, and our accustomed lifestyles.